Hey folks!

We’re more than halfway through Round 1 of the Best Album of 2001 tournament, and that means we’re coming up on a very important milestone: the time to start thinking about the next tournament! (That’s right, that means we’re pretty much always thinking about either the current tournament or the next one.) In case it wasn’t clear, in case I was being too subtle, the next tournament year is 1988.

Towards that, I encourage people to hear as much new-to-them 1988 music as they can. An electorate that’s well-informed is an electorate that nominates interesting albums. Towards that, I offer this list of every 1988 album I and others have been able to identify. As of this writing, that’s over 600 albums. You don’t have to hear all of them; I mean, you can’t[1]. But take the time we have before the nomination period to find stuff you’ve never heard that speaks to you. I know that takes effort, and you’re not going to strike gold every outing, but I guarantee you’ll find something that you’re going to want to share with the rest of us.

Here is the link to the 1988 Master-ish list of albums. Use it wisely.

Now, the bulk of this Master-ish list was created by me, but I am not the keeper of the list — that honor belongs to @lanna.bsky.social. If you want to just look at the list and maybe use it as a guide for listening and coming up with future nominations, great! However, if you’d like to contribute by adding missing albums and information, also very much great BUT please follow Alana’s rules. They are reprinted here, but you’ll also find them on the sheet.

Let's make Kent's life easier. Please make sure you fill in as much of the full info as you can for anything you're adding, STRIKETHROUGH title and artist for anything that doesn't qualify and note it; if you remove it, someone will inevitably add it back, making more work for all of us. (You can remove doubles if you're familiar with Sheets, but if it's a name issue, make a note of the alternate name on the entry.)

Add new entries at the bottom and then reorder by name. That's far easier on a spreadsheet than trying to insert a line and accidentally writing over something.

SOURCE is so that it's easier for Kent to make sure the qualifying nominations actually qualify. SPOTIFY is not a good source, but if it's the only one out there, put it in as "See Note" and put "Spotify" under NOTES.
Use the proper format when adding: Band, ALBUM TITLE

Don't ask other people to add your long list of albums for you. Do it yourself, or cry in shame when no one's heard your fave come nomination time because you were being lazy. (I kid, but with three people on access requests, everyone should be able to put their favorites in.)

If you request access and haven't received it within 24 hours, tag @lanna.bsky.social on Bluesky. If she's blocked you, then try @renamj.bsky.social, if no response from Rena or you're not a Bluesky person, only then poke Kent at @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social or email kentmbeeson@hey.com.

If you've never worked with Sheets before, here is a link to help you get started: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9282959?hl=en

Okay, that’s it! In a few months, we’ll continue this conversation with my favorite 1988 albums, and sometime after that, I’ll put a spotlight on yours.

Best,

Kent

[1]: Nevertheless, that impossibility isn’t stopping me. I’ve heard 215 so far with months to go. Don’t try this at home.